Episode 05 - Tomas Gonzalez: Part 2

In part two of my conversation with Tomas Gonzalez in an echoey London hotel, we continued to discuss his dark, autobiographical debut novel In the Beginning was the Sea. 

We began with the influence of Carson McCullers, William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marques, then moved onto:

• the beauty and horror of nature
• man's environmental transgressions
• Gonzalez on how we are turning the planet into a garbage dump
• the sea as a symbol in Colombia
• humankind's hubris
• the place of religion and mysticism in his work
• his anger with his brother
• how writing can help understand death and pain
• the importance of the quiet life for Gonzalez
• 'Human beings are too successful for their own good'
• writing about Colombia from abroad
• Gonzalez's pessimism for the future
• Gonzalez on Marquez and magical realism in Colombian fiction 
• 'It's all so fucking difficult and so fucking beautiful'
• horror and beauty in Gonzalez work
• on J' wife Elena as character and reality
• the future: past novels and future short stories